Weekly Photo Challenge-Monumental

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My contribution for this week’s challenge…

Monumental.

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My first monument is high atop a hill in Castlemaine in central Victoria.

 

Bourke and Wills passed through Castlemaine on their ill-fated north-south crossing of Australia.

You can read more in one of my first posts, Healthy Chocolate and again at Look Up-Down

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This is the eastern view of The Twelve Apostles, not the post card view, but definitely monumental.

Until March 1, 1878, this gorge was just another indent in the Victoria coastline.  After that stormy night which claimed the SS Loch Ard, bound for Melbourne, and all souls bar two. This gorge became known as Loch Ard Gorge and famous as the place where Tom and Eva were washed ashore as the only survivors of the wreck.  How they ever managed to get out of the gorge is a miracle in itself!  To stand on the sandy beaches within the gorge and image no steps to the top gives you an idea of the monumental effort required to survive and get out of the gorge.

Another monument, relic, to the mid 1800s are the Cannon Hill guns, at Warrnambool, Victoria.  These guns are trained out to sea to stop an invasion by the Russians.  An invasion which must be still in the planning stages. This photo was taken on January 4th, 2013.  Sadly in early March, or late February this year, I did not notice this gun on Cannon Hill.  I say sadly as it appears that the original, in my lifetime, muzzle loaded guns along with this one have been removed and replaced by military equipment from last century.  Doesn’t have the romance.

Also added to Cannon Hill in the last few years (loosely speaking) is a monument to Portuguese explorers who visited Australia’s shores long before Captain Cook, and crew, visited and planted the British flag.  The bust in this photo is, I think, of Prince Henry the Navigator.

Maybe it was because I had heard of Vasco da Gama during my school years that I took a photo of him.  However, I think I have one of the other bust…just cannot find it.

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WARNING:

The following links may offend some and may cause others to chuckle out loud.

Just a short walk from the guns on Cannon Hill is Warrnambool’s War Memorial which, I would imagine, will be a place of greatly solemnity on ANZAC, April 25, as the community remembers those who fought in conflicts around the world during years gone by.  Atop this monument is an angel holding a wreath and looking down upon a statue of a solider.  When I was in my twenties I learned that this angel was known as “The Dirty Angel”.  I was not sure if I should mention this but Google provided me with further information.

The best photos of this monument can be found at monumentsaustralia.org.au

Weekendnotes also has a page devoted to The Dirty Angel

And in true Aussie fashion, according to

Fairfax News, there is apparently a beer named after The Dirty Angel

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Monumental

(dailypost.wordpress.com)

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